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Lesson Plans for Building Avatars/Icons
Building Avatars/Icons Introduce yourself by putting an avatar/icon in your user posts. Have your avatar/icon appear next to your posts in Personal Learning Space or Youth Voices. You can then make different avatars/icons for different kinds of posts. An avatar is a representation of the essence of you. Essential Questions * What is special to you and about you? * What is important to you? * How can these things come together as a visual representation of you? * How will creating and using a visual representation of yourself help a young person at another school relate to your life and get to know you? Gather your thoughts and create an avatar/icon #'On paper, map and draw what is essential about you.' #*In the center of a piece of paper, draw a large outline of your favorite shape. #*Around the outside of the shape, write the answers to these questions: #*What is your favorite color? #*What is your favorite animal? #*What is your strongest positive emotion? #*What is your strongest negative emotion? #*What is your favorite food? #*What is your favorite place? #*What is your favorite animal? #*What is your favorite hobby? #*What is your goal in life? #*What is your favorite time of day? #*What is your favorite thing to do? #*What is the quality that you value the most in yourself? #'Create a visual representation of these ideas inside the shape.' #*Draw and/or color inside your shape a representation of the ideas on the outside of the shape. #'Now look at some avatars/icons that already exist. Divide into small groups and search online to find out about:' #*What was Neal Stephenson's 1992 book, Snow Crash and what does it have to do with avatars? #*What did the game Ultima IV have to do with avatars and what was the goal of the game? #*Who was the television star Max Headroom and why was he an avatar? #*On April 19, 2000, Ananova said hello to the world. Who was Ananova and why was she an avatar? #*Visit SPEAK2Me.net and find the avatar. #*What are examples of avatars/icons in computer games? #*Find examples of avatars which are buddy icons? #'Share some Avatar History since you are becoming part of the network of people who create and use avatars' #*Using a projector or gathering around a computer, come back together and go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar #*Read the first paragraph and look at the images #*Now continue in time order to share the avatar investigations that you just researched with the whole class #'Look at the ideas you have gathered for your avatar/icon.' #'Make your avatar/icon.' #*Open Photoshop or GIMP or any image editing program. #*Create a new document 100x100 pixels. Make the resolution 72 dpi and use RGB color mode. Make the background either white or transparent. #**Use different layers to represent the ideas that you put in your drawing, around your shape. #**Build each layer and when you are done, flatten the image and save it as a jpeg. #::If you are using Photoshop, use a Save for the Web command to get the best compression. ##'Upload your new avatar/icon' #*Log into Youth Voices #*Go to Account Settings>Your site picture #*Click on Upload a new picture and name your new icon. Examples A First Avatar *http://youthvoices.net/elgg/susane/weblog/373.html